Kurgan

Sarmatian Kurgan, 4th century BC, Fillipovka, South Urals, Russia. A dig led by Russian Academy of Sciences Archeology Institute Prof. L. Yablonsky excavated this kurgan in 2006. It is the first kurgan known to have been completely destroyed and then rebuilt to its original appearance.

A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central Asia and Eastern, Southeast, Western and Northern Europe during the 3rd millennium BC.[1]

The earliest kurgans date to the 4th millennium BC in the Caucasus,[2] and some researchers associate these with the Indo-Europeans.[3] Kurgans were built in the Eneolithic, Bronze, Iron, Antiquity and Middle Ages, with ancient traditions still active in Southern Siberia and Central Asia.

  1. ^ Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2019). "Kurgan". Dictionary.com. Random House.
  2. ^ Kipfer 2000, p. 291.
  3. ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 339.